The alarm goes off when we face overwhelming or strong emotions like fear, anger and sadness.

Like for example:
when someone says something unkind to you, you get all upset and the Amygdala—the ancient part of your brain—believes you are in danger.

ALARM ALARM ALARM.

We do crazy things when this happens:

A kid might say something cruel or unkind when they feel upset.

A kid might push another kid or a parent when they get angry.

A kid might freeze at school when overwhelmed.

A parent might yell at his kid.

(I know I have raised my voice … and I hate it.)

It’s really hard to make good choices or speak eloquently when your body forces you to fight, bolt, or freeze.

Right?

Right.

It’s no wonder kids and grown-ups do crazy things when this happens.

And in a way it’s really not the kids fault when it happens. Or yours!

But, how does all this relate to mindfulness practice?

This is the important part :-) This is how …

Mindfulness helps our brains to do a better job

According to several studies we can practice mindfulness to activate Tex (7) (the Prefrontal Cortex) and Hippo (the Hippocampus) (Tang), and reduce activation in Amy (the Amygdala) (8). Research also suggests that mindfulness can help Tex and Hippo grow bigger (7) (Tang).

While most studies on the neuroscience of mindfulness have been done on adults, preliminary research suggests that mindfulness might have similar effects on Tex, Amy and Hippo for children. (9,10,11,12,13)

In fact, some argue that mindfulness training is especially important for children, because the prefrontal cortex (Tex) doesn’t reach full maturity until around age 25. Research suggests that Tex’s development is strongly influenced by childhood experiences, and that mindfulness training might be an effective way to help Tex mature and do her job.

This way Tex & Hippo can help kids:
control their attention,
manage and respond to emotions and thoughts,
and control impulses.

So that they can better deal with difficult emotions and thoughts and ultimately make better decisions.

Research also suggests that mindfulness-based reductions in stress are linked with decreases in amygdala size (15).

To sum it all up, mindfulness helps us double-check “bottom-up” emotional reactions that come from Amy with “top-down” attention from Tex so that we can regulate our thoughts and behavior. And Hippo helps us store this information for later use. (16)

Pretty cool, right?

When we’re mindful, we get to decide how we respond to life’s challenges and we can make good choices more easily. (17, 18)

People often experience enhanced relaxation states as a result of mindfulness, even over the long-term. (19) From my own experience I can say that the more I practice mindfulness, the more I experience calm moments, even if I’m not actively trying to be mindful. Scientists call this experience-dependent neuroplasticity, which means that we can shape our brains by what we do and experience. When we train focusing and calming skills, then we can become more focused and calmer.

Have fun! I hope that you enjoyed this way of explaining mindfulness and the brain.

If you’re interested in learning more about mindfulness and want to practice with kids & youth to nurture joy, focus, kindness and calm I recommend my brand new self-paced mindfulness online training.

Chris Bergstrom is the co-founder of BlissfulKids.com and a dad who is thrilled to practice mindfulness with his son. He is a certified mindfulness facilitator, and trained to teach mindfulness to students in K-12. He’s also an executive consultant, and has taught meditation for more than 10 years.